Free Night at the Casino

[fieldtrip]

Who: OPEN to all / mingle log
Where: Queens (the casino!)
What: Wow July sure was a month! Time to take a breather and have a night out, courtesy of Toph and Mitsuru!
Warnings: N/A

FREE NIGHT AT THE CASINO

GAMBLING

Feeling down after that space infestation made you murder some friends? Getting tempted to bury yourself in the sand at the beach so no one can ever perceive you again?

Time for a tone shift! It's a free night at the casino. For tonight only, chips mean nothing -- which means everyone gets a rack of chips when they walk in and can let loose! Entertainment, food, and drink are also free within reason. (Abuse the privilege and find out who works security here the hard way!)

Welcome to Queens, the formerly shady but now revamped and reimagined casino in the entertainment district of Aldrip. Classy and minimalist but not gaudy, it's run, staffed, and heavily patronized by Chosen. Maybe you know someone who works there, maybe someone dragged you in to lighten up for once, maybe you're just stopping by for some fun.

Appropriately, the most popular game of the night is Queen's Blood, with tables set aside purely for teaching. There's also the standard casino games available in spades -- poker, slots, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and so forth.

AT THE CLUB

It wouldn't be a casino without alcohol, music, and dancing. There's a low-key bar for those looking to have a conversation where they can hear one another over the pleasant live jazz, and a much livelier dance floor set off to the side in a different part of the casino with a DJ playing dance music.

FIGHTING TOURNAMENT

Beneath the casino is a massive underground cavern converted into a fighting arena.

It's a bit hard to find, intentionally -- either you were personally invited by someone or you stumbled across the covert speakeasy-style entrance in a corner of the main floor, possibly from the people jostling to go in and out. The stairs go down and down until they suddenly open out into the huge room, lined in walkways to view the fight.

There's three circuits to the fighting tournament: a bracket for fighting with powers, a bracket for fighting without powers (hand-to-hand and weapons only), and a shooting competition. Toph (fieldtrip) serves as referee for all of the above and is prepared to break up anything that goes too far. This is just for fun, folks!

Sign up in the comment below and maybe you'll even win something! Toph promises a super cool prize to the winner of each circuit!

FORTUNE TELLING

Get a free tarot reading!

It does seem like some of the glitching in Aldrip has made it maybe a little more accurate than usual lately... or maybe that's inaccurate? Feel free to have the cards have a real effect on them with a glitch!

DOG THERAPY

In one peaceful corner away from the din and bustle is a dog petting station. All manner of adorable and highly trained dogs are available for cuddles and play time.

Some of them are even up for adoption if you want to take one home!

Kakashi (battlefieldbrat) runs and operates this station with the kind supervision of Koromaru, our local good boy.

Code by 10billionghosts.

Comments

Toph Beifong | Open

[fieldtrip]

1. Working

[ As one of the owners and head of security, Toph does spend a good part of the night working, not that it feels much like working to her. She genuinely enjoys walking around keeping an eye on things and interfering where it's needed, or offering hearty congratulations or mocking laughter as appropriate.

Small and barefoot as she is, it's easy to miss her until she suddenly pops up somewhere and starts yelling. Feel free to run into her just about anywhere while on the job -- or find her telling someone twice her height to knock it off. ]

You know what really pisses me off? People bothering my staff.

2. Fighting Tournament

[ She's thrilled to finally be launching this. Even at home she'd sincerely missed Earth Rumble, and since coming to Aldrip (how long has it been? yikes) it's just gotten worse. Toph has plenty of reasons to enjoy fighting and want to keep her skills sharp, but she doesn't think too deeply about it. The plain fact is that she does enjoy it, and she's good at it, and she likes sharing that with others.

The whole past month was a horrific trial. Even if she wasn't involved in any awful violence directly, some people she really cares about have some major things to work through, and what better way than a friendly beatdown?

Toph can be found signing people up, badgering people into participating if she knows them, and, of course, fighting in some bouts herself. She's far more capable in the circuit that allows powers, but in the no powers circuit she still holds her own decently well. Despite her ego, she takes losing well. She's motivated to get better and might bother whoever she lost to after the match into agreeing to practice with her more.

She's also prone to offering peanut gallery comments to anyone spectating on the matches she's not actively refereeing. ]

Geez, some people really just signed up to embarrass themselves in public.

[ Or maybe: ] That's awesome! Do you know them? Do you think they'd face me later?

3. Fortune Telling

[ She'd gone to the trouble of recruiting the fortune teller and setting this up, so she may as well partake herself. Except then Toph ends up scowling down at her reading.

Five of swords... Queen of swords... reversed Emperor.

It all sounds pretty okay until the fortune teller gets toward the end of the interpretation, and then starts explaining that reversed Emperor for the future spot means she'll end up in a position of great authority, but one she doesn't want. ]

Are you kidding me? I don't want anything more serious than running this place! That's crap.

4. Dog Therapy

[ However gruff and abrasive she can be, Toph isn't shy at all about showing affection when it's warranted, and she definitely counts it as warranted with friendly animals. Toph was already predisposed to like animals from her childhood lessons with the badger-moles, but after Appa and Momo, and now Kakashi hosting a whole dog kennel and rescue next door, she's all in.

So you can find her literally rolling around on the ground laughing as she play-wrestles with some of the dogs, disheveled and hair escaping her headband even more than usual. Just as she'd intended with this event, it's a relief to be reminded that there's something as simple and happy as this still left in the world.

Maybe she notices someone observing nearby, or maybe she knows you. Either way, Toph suddenly grins and gleefully tells the dogs around her: ]

Get 'em!

[ The whole pile of dogs mobilizes to lovingly tackle the newcomer. ]

WILD CARD ?

[ Go for it! ]

2

[bulleting]

[Between fighting Jinx, and getting poisoned, Caitlyn was not competing. At least, not in one of the physical fights. A shooting competition would be fine, nothing super extreme on her still achy body. She felt a lot better than she did, but that didn't mean the last few weeks hadn't had an impact.

Thankfully there was no lasting bad feelings between her and Vi. After the amount of time they had both been in Aldrip, it was just another day, getting mindfucked in one way or another.

Vi, however, did join the competition, so Caitlyn made her way into the audience to watch and cheer her companion on. It's as she was looking for somewhere to sit that she spotted Toph, and she made her way towards her. There was no point in announcing her presence, Toph would know she was coming before she even spoke up.]

Mind if I join you?

[fieldtrip]

[ She's right about that, and after teaching her on and off over the past few months, Toph is especially attuned to Caitlyn's footsteps. She can tell right away that she's approaching and that something's slightly off. Not that it's hard to guess why that might be after everything with the gnosia. ]

'Course. You doing okay? You're walking a little funny.

[ Does Toph need to beat up someone for her student? She is fully prepared. ]

[bulleting]

[Caitlyn sits, and pauses at Toph's question. She knows it does no good to lie. Toph could always see right through lies, so she knows it's really not worth the effort.]

Yes, I'm fine. I promise. I was...infected, last month. Claude helped Vi use a poison to disable me, to make it easier to heal me. I'm feeling better now, it's just taken some time.

[She appreciates that Toph is so worried. She's been a good teacher. It's thanks to her that she didn't die at the hands of Jinx, after all.]

[fieldtrip]

[ Infected is one way to put it. Truthfully, Toph wasn't trying to interrogate her, just expressing some natural concern, but she still appreciates the upfront honest response. ]

That sucks, [ she says succinctly. ] I managed to escape most of it, but it seems like everyone I know got hit with something. That's why I put this together -- [ she gestures around them ] I thought everyone could use a break.

WILDIN'

[ashaya]

[ It seems that he's come to find himself in such environs more often these days. Whether it be due to persuasion or a general acclimatization, Spock is not one to elucidate, but it is true that he has not been seen far from a particular Captain for the bulk of the evening. If he has occasionally capitulated to nursing a drink or two at the sidelines while surveying the quieter offerings? Well, that's part of an evening out as it were. It would not be the first.

It will not certainly be the last, either.

Even so, when he happens upon Toph, it is toward the back of the casino. Away from the buzz and jangle of the slot machines and the cresting of mingled voices, Spock has taken to working on various bits of code in the interim. Seated comfortably upon a plush couch, he balances his communicator upon the crown of one knee. He sounds comfortable, given the relative brush of fabrics and weave when he turns to review a notebook laid out beside him.

It is in the midst of working upon Toph's requested upgrades to the screen reader, that he hears her approach. She's distinctive to his senses, as much as he is undoubtedly distinctive to her own. ]

Miss Toph, [ he greets, pausing only when she comes into his periphery. The weight of his attention settles upon her, a shift from a moment ago. ] Good evening.

[ He needn't invite her to join him, knowing that she'll do so if she wishes, but the unspoken offer is there even so. ]

[fieldtrip]

You seriously sitting back here working on your computer stuff?

[ Toph absolutely knows the right words for it by now and just says 'computer stuff' to razz him. Sure enough, she hops up to sit beside him without invitation, kicking and swinging her feet since they don't touch the ground.

She's dressed more nicely than usual as well, though it's equally as practical as Spock's party wear. She's going to be fighting later, after all. ]

You know I set up this whole thing to get people to take a break.

[ashaya]

Indeed, [ he says, as serious as the grave as Humans would so term it. It is absolutely full of the typical bullshit airs he puts upon, the syllables rounded where they ought not to be. For all that it would be lost upon her, one eyebrow flicks upward to brush the curled edge of his bangs. That much is new, it would seem. ] The gentleman under your employ has agreed to provide translations.

[ He is indeed gratified to see that Toph has taken to relaxing herself and has agreed to his tacit invitation, but he does humor her. He finishes the next line of the requested dictionary before saving his progress, tucking the necessary materials back into the canvas bag that has become so synonymous with his person. ]

Given the project's scope, I would consider the encoding of archaic linguistic deconstructions suitably mindless.

[ Is he calling all this slang old and way too preoccupied with Human vulgarities? Maybe. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ Good, she's really paying him for something, then. Toph doesn't do charity, like she'd told Sha-Ming herself, which means she tries to find things she legitimately could use help with for her 'staff' to do. This seemed like a natural fit.

Added bonus is imagining Sha-Ming and Spock interacting. She smirks. ] Yeah, how's that going? I figured he'd be good for it. [ This is definitely just her fishing for gossip.

She nudges him a bit with her elbow at the veiled insult. ] Yeah, yeah. What do you do for fun? When you're not mocking old human crap.

2

[finalfrontiersman]

[ In retrospect, the fact that Toph owns and operates the local casino should have been more obvious.

Given his conversation with Toph, Jim had found himself genuinely laughing in delight when they'd received the invitation to the open house. Fitting, and certainly a way to make a living in this city that Jim wasn't about to fault her for. It was as good an excuse as any to get out of the house (and cajole Spock with him, as if he needed much convincing where Jim was involved) - and Jim didn't hesitate to take it. After the awful cloud had lifted over the city, they all needed to let loose.

Jim's missed Toph since his arrival - he'd helped out with the dogs for a minute, then circled around to the games, hung out with Spock by the bar, always missing Toph by a few moments. There's enough activity around it's not surprising, but at a certain point Jim sets out intentionally to find the host of the evening.

He's wandered through the dance floor (he was unable to successfully convince Spock to join him, ah well, maybe next time), but still hasn't seen Toph. The only place he hasn't checked is downstairs ( ? this place has a downstairs? He heard someone mention it in passing... ) - which isn't easy to find, though Jim manages. He looks more out of place down here than he does up in the casino, in his polo shirt, tucked at a crop into high-waisted trousers. Don't ask him about the buttons on the pants, he's unreasonably excited about them.

Still, he finds the fight, the stairs opening into a series of criss-crossing walkways suspended over the fighting rinks. Well, it seems Toph's operation goes deeper than he thought (literally).

And there's the woman of the hour herself - absolutely thrashing an opponent in the ring. Jim comes in at the tail end of the match, but it's obvious Toph is just playing with her food - and it's incredible to witness earthbending in action. She wins, naturally, and Jim gives a long, loud whistle to cheer her on as the bell dings her victory. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ It's not a naturally occurring thought for a thirteen year old to own any business, much less a casino, but it's obvious no one's going to be able to tell Toph otherwise. She barely takes input on what she does on a good day.

She's glad somebody else thinks it's a good idea to take a break and chill out for once after how stressful things have been. It seems like it's just the way things go here -- they get their heads messed with, some catastrophe occurs, etcetera, and they have to move on. Toph had come out of the past month relatively unscathed, which means she's in a good position to create a space for others to maybe remember normal life still exists.

She knows hero types on guilt trips: they love to convince themselves that the whole plane of existence has shrunk to their little corner of it. Toph has had to beat the lesson to the contrary into Aang's bald head several times.

And for her own stress relief? Wiping the floor with someone in a friendly staged match is just about her favorite method. She totally hams it up when her victory is declared, raising her fists in the air and accepting the cheering with a smug expression. Still, she strolls out of the ring to let the next match up take place, and shoots herself up into the air to land on an upper walkway with a simple stomp of her foot on the bare earthen ground.

She'd made this whole place, so unlike upstairs where casual earthbending would disrupt the carpeted floor or whatever and probably irritate Mitsuru, down here Toph can manipulate the cavern to her heart's content.

She lands lightly on her bare feet on the metal grating beside Jim, not realizing who it is until she lands. Then she immediately goads: ] What'd ya think?

[ Fishing for compliments? Why not, this is the place and time to do it. ]

[finalfrontiersman]

[ Is Jim surprised by anything that happens here, anymore? He likely shouldn't be, to be honest. It's a good thing Toph's enabled this, though, because Jim thinks he's seen more smiles and ease tonight than he has in a while. A collective breath released, as it were; any Captain worth their salt knew shore leave was essential to the health of every crew, and the Aldrip crew had been through quite the wringer as of late.

With more to come, if Jim, Spock, and the rest of the STEM club had anything to say about it. Glitches had started to worsen, and it was becoming rapidly clear that their existence in Aldrip - whatever else it might be - was not safe. They had to do something, if they could; risk things on their own terms. Hopefully, Toph would come with them. As would others, when called; Jim had to hope that was true. For a group of so-called criminals, he had to believe they could come together for a common purpose. It was the only chance they had.

But tonight is not the night for the ruminations that have been plaguing him recently; Jim has a hard time acknowledging that he too, needs to heed his own advice and take the time to have fun, but Spock does so love to remind him. Now, too, Toph has taken up the mantle and drafted him to help, which made it easier to say yes and actually give in. Jim grins as Toph lands right next to him, leaning an arm against the railing. ] That was incredible. I've never seen anything like it! Your finishing move - I do not envy being on the business end of that.

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph is a good teacher and a great friend, but she has no experience being a leader and frankly no interest in it. Her motives tonight are simple -- she wants to make sure everyone's okay and drag them out of their sad little holes, wherever they are, if she can. That Jim is a comrade in arms on this mission gets him an easy grin back.

Friendship established, she is absolutely game for any kind of dangerous operation Jim wants to run. He'll find that out himself before long. ]

Just so we're clear, earthbending is always awesome, but I'm literally the best at it. [ This is a boast and also true. She knows she's basically ruining the standards of everyone who knows her for bending skill expectations. ] It's nice to get to let loose a bit.

[ Toph is the epitome of control, which means she doesn't go around fighting to her true abilities very often. Especially lately. She kind of misses the straightforward beatdowns with the sea creatures from when she first showed up... ]

1-ish /wild?

[cursegod]

[Toph is probably the only staff member who has an idea of what's happening outside the casino while still being indoors. And who could possibly begin to imagine a looming presence overhead during all the fun and games. A giant snake popping out of nowhere and chilling on the roof? No way, couldn't be! Except if Toph decides to do a thorough scan, that's exactly what she finds-- a very large serpent body slithering along the edges of the roof and curling up in the center at random intervals.

Dara may not enjoy crowds, but she is perfectly fine with watching the traffic go in and out of the establishment. She's got nothing better to do (especially not being alone with her own thoughts) so this is just enough of a distraction.]

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph is indeed monitoring the perimeter off and on. Considering the track record with big parties ending in catastrophe around here, she's had her paranoid suspicions proven right a couple times already and she isn't about to slack off at her own event. Fortunately, she knows who Dara is, and she's pretty much impossible to mistake.

At some point during a break in her social interactions, she seeks her out. Toph scales the side of the building smoothly -- it's all stone, so she simply elevators herself up the side and then hops over the edge -- and makes her way unerringly to the super large snake lady chilling on the roof. ]

Hey, Dara. You want a drink or something? You don't have to hide up here.

[ Toph has strong feelings about not making people hide. Strong feelings she will back up with boulders. ]

[cursegod]

[Ah, it's the blind girl who Shinjiro trains with! Dara has absolutely no clue what they usually get up to because it's none of her business. Kind of. In any case, the curse god shifts to look at Toph-- it's not an outright offering so there's no need to accept.............................BUT IT COULD BE COLA-!!! Hm. Wouldn't that mean she has to be around people, though? But the cola... ]

I'm not hiding, I'm people-watching. [Totally hiding. Hard-core introverting up here. But seriously, she can't hold back the question longer than a few seconds:] Got anything sweet down there?

2

[jaganshi]

[ Of course Hiei is going to go and find his way to the fighting ring. There's absolutely no chance he is going to miss out on even watching some of the things that other people can do in this place. It's an interesting bit of intelligence if nothing else, even if he finds the vast majority of it all rather... weak. He's put his own name in to compete, with powers, though he is well aware this is no Dark Tournament.

This means he'll have to neuter a bit of the power behind everything he does, for the most part. Oh well. It's something to do that isn't trying to figure out how to use his chips.

The little demon watches rather passively, eyes following every movement, bandaged hands tucked into his pants pockets when Toph speaks to him, a soft huff of a laugh following. ]

If this were the Dark Tournament they wouldn't live to be made fun of.

[fieldtrip]

[ Wow, it's like hanging out with Zuko, if everything were carried to the most morbid extreme possible. ... So maybe what socializing with Azula is like? ]

Yeahhh, we're gonna try to skip the murder today, [ Toph drawls. ] This is supposed to be for fun, and anyway, nobody stays dead around here.

[ She has a natural aversion to killing anyone, but she's not necessarily against it if it makes the most logical sense in taking out a problem. It just isn't an option here, so why make someone go through the trauma, on both sides? ]

But there's plenty of pointing and laughing we can do.

[jaganshi]

You have somehow made a fighting tournament even more boring against a bunch of weaker foes. [ Not that Hiei would've been particularly happy to bring an end to a weaker foe, but he isn't going to reveal himself as having a weirdly grey-on-grey moral code just yet. It's something, even if it isn't as cutthroat as the Dark Tournament.

He could gauge what people were capable of if nothing else. ]

Kuwabara would thrive in this, I think.

2

[grappler]

[Vi slides up beside Toph as she starts to step up into the fighting ring. she grins over at her, even though she knows she can't see it.

but she can hear the playful tone:]

We doing this, then? You gonna throw rocks at my head, too?

[it's not like she really cares either way.]

[fieldtrip]

Nah, pretty sure your head is harder than a standard rock, [ Toph taunts back immediately.

She knows she isn't the most formidable combatant without her bending, but that just gives her all the more reason to practice. She might be without it again at some point. It's tough to suppress her instincts to chuck rocks, though, that's for sure, or at least to root her feet to the earth for leverage.

She sinks into a strong low stance nonetheless, obviously a formal martial arts pose. ]

[grappler]

Wow, that was fast. Almost like you were waiting for me to say something.

[Vi shifts into a stance as well, a looser stance more suited for street fighting. which. y'know, is all she really knows, even if Mikey had been starting to help teach her.

that said, when it was time to start, she wasn't going to hold back so much for Toph. obviously this wasn't a fight to the death or anything, it was just a sparring match, but she knows what the girl is capable of. also, there was the fact that she wouldn't want her to hold back, too.

so she dodges in with an attempted uppercut to the younger girl, getting this kicked off quickly.]

working

[melnik]

[ Working is what Miller is here to do. Although a part of him cannot help but admire the indomitable spirit of Toph, he frankly would not have shown up if he had known what kind of a shindig he was in for. The intention is no doubt good, but even for those able to think logically and separate the Gnosia from the people infected by it, said post-infected individuals still very much have to live with the actions they took.

In Miller's case, tonight this means retreating from any social interaction that is not strictly in line with keeping the peace. In fact, he really makes a model security guard in how he lingers with an intimidating air that might typically be softened by some banter. At least he might normally enjoy watching the fights! But for now, the only break in this silent vigil of his occurs whenever someone takes things a little too far, and the later into the evening they get, the more the flow of free drinks requires intervention. He's already had to enforce several bartender requests to cut people off, so when he hears Toph getting riled up somewhere nearby, he's quick to attend with a threatening gaze eyeing down everyone in proximity. ]

What? Did something happen?

[fieldtrip]

[ Looks like her cunning plan is working, then. Her real goal is to make sure none of her sad friends hole up alone and have pity parties of one. Toph doesn't expect them to be 'over' anything or even necessarily to let loose while they're here if they don't want to, but she is pretty darn insistent that nobody she cares about retreats and ignores reality. Facing things head on is basically her motto. ]

Just somebody who lost and thinks they shouldn't have, [ Toph answers, insistently jabbing at said patron with a pointed finger.

Although she can't see herself, she's hardly ignorant to what she looks like and the impact it has on others; she's forced to acknowledge that Miller is much more visually intimidating, and his presence likely helps them resolve it without her having to physically kick the guy out.

As they walk away -- on to the next problem? -- she begrudgingly huffs, ] Thanks. Never thought I'd miss having a reputation, but it's really annoying that people see me and just think I'm a little girl.

[melnik]

[ If it were all a result of his own doing, there's no doubt that shutting everything out would be the move. Fortunately(?), with or without Toph's help, he has to grapple with the fact that this situation was forced upon them by some invisible hand yet again. He can't ignore that just because it managed to paint him in such a pathetic light.

Of course, as usual, only so much can be done. May as well work while they plan their next move, right? That's what Miller is telling himself anyway. Though it hardly seems that Toph is experiencing the same hesitation.

Anyway, once the problem patron is made clear, Miller moves towards him with exasperation— ]

I don't think you need to be told again.

[ —only to find that the issue is largely resolved with this alone. That's good and all, but he also finds it vexing that there are still people bold enough to talk back to her, and shakes his head. ]

Not to worry. If they keep this up, they will learn. Would be a shame to make a mess of this place after all the work that's been put into it though.